I sent the following letter to the Mayor and Aldermen of Selmer, TN and wanted to share it with my "coworkers" as mentioned below.
Gentlemen,
I unintentionally ran a red light in Selmer a few days ago and received a letter from a third party company demanding I send them $50. I went on line and learned that this for profit business is acting as your proxy in this matter. They install the equipment, monitor, review the results, send out "tickets" with a computer generated police officer's signature, receive payment and then send the local municipality a share of the "fine".
I do not mind the $50 going to Selmer, I made an error and deserve to pay for it but the idea of some private company citing me and demanding that I enrich them as a penalty is to me most galling. As this is obviously an agreement that the city of Selmer entered into for financial gain I have decided upon the following:
1. I will no longer do business in Selmer for food,drugs, meals, fuel, car purchases, clothing, furniture or anything else of value.
2. I will encourage my immediate and extended family to follow the action listed in number 1.
3. I will encourage my friends, neighbors and coworkers to follow the action listed in number 1.
I am not capable of fully explaining just how much I detest this type of George Orwell/Aldous Huxley police state privatization of your city's law enforcement so I will close with a wish. A wish that your system fails to provide the revenue the company promised when you were being courted and a further wish that Selmer return to traditional law enforcement.
Gentlemen,
I unintentionally ran a red light in Selmer a few days ago and received a letter from a third party company demanding I send them $50. I went on line and learned that this for profit business is acting as your proxy in this matter. They install the equipment, monitor, review the results, send out "tickets" with a computer generated police officer's signature, receive payment and then send the local municipality a share of the "fine".
I do not mind the $50 going to Selmer, I made an error and deserve to pay for it but the idea of some private company citing me and demanding that I enrich them as a penalty is to me most galling. As this is obviously an agreement that the city of Selmer entered into for financial gain I have decided upon the following:
1. I will no longer do business in Selmer for food,drugs, meals, fuel, car purchases, clothing, furniture or anything else of value.
2. I will encourage my immediate and extended family to follow the action listed in number 1.
3. I will encourage my friends, neighbors and coworkers to follow the action listed in number 1.
I am not capable of fully explaining just how much I detest this type of George Orwell/Aldous Huxley police state privatization of your city's law enforcement so I will close with a wish. A wish that your system fails to provide the revenue the company promised when you were being courted and a further wish that Selmer return to traditional law enforcement.
